Even the portraits of past Principals hanging on the walls of the Principal's office could not understand Dumbledore's thoughts and actions.
But what could they do, being long dead and only existing as portraits? They could only follow his instructions and closely monitor Clarence.
Clarence, of course, was unaware, but even if he knew, he wouldn't care. After all, his situation was not only different from other Wizards, but also different from Lord Voldemort back then. At the very least, his method of acquiring power was completely different.
For example, even ordinary household magic could be practiced and upgraded to an extreme level through system simplification.
This meant that Clarence had no need to painstakingly try to learn Dark Arts like Lord Voldemort to enhance his strength.
Moreover, even if he truly wanted to do something, as long as it didn't violate Hogwarts's school rules, or even the Magic World's laws, what could Dumbledore do?
One must know that Dumbledore, who was given the title of White Lord, corresponding to Grindelwald, the Dark Lord of his time, would not lay a hand on a young Wizard, let alone an adult Wizard, unless they were a Dark Wizard. He would only subdue them and hand them over to the Ministry of Magic to be dealt with by the Magic World's laws.
Only when dealing with Dark Wizards who had completely fallen into darkness, committing murder and arson and all sorts of evil, would he eliminate them with swift and decisive action.
Therefore, as long as Clarence did not break the rules, the only thing Dumbledore could do was monitor, be wary, prepare, and even offer verbal advice, but he would not harm a student still attending school.
Otherwise, why was Lord Voldemort able to graduate from Hogwarts School back then?
Did he really think Dumbledore couldn't see his true character?
Or did he really think a mere young Wizard's acting could deceive a White Lord on the same level as Grindelwald?
Even when the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts was first opened and a female student was killed, he had already suspected Lord Voldemort. However, because he couldn't find evidence to prove the real culprit, he could only watch as the Ministry of Magic took Hagrid away...
The most important point lies in the magical nature of magic. Some special magic can truly detect a Wizard's inner self, just like the Patronus Charm.
True Dark Wizards cannot cast a Patronus, because their hearts have long been corrupted by Dark Arts and completely fallen into darkness. How could they still cast such an advanced magic that relies on positive emotional energy?
Besides that, some other magic can also indirectly reveal a Wizard's inner self.
Therefore, the young Lord Voldemort could not have possibly hidden anything from Dumbledore. Perhaps he could rely on disguise to hide from other Professors, but he could never hide from Dumbledore.
In fact, this also has some relation to certain customs in the Magic World. That is to say, which Wizard would dare to claim that they had never learned a Dark Art in their entire life, or even researched knowledge of Dark Arts?
Therefore, everyone has a dark side to their heart. Even if it's expressed a bit excessively, it won't attract too much attention. On the contrary, those like Dumbledore are extremely rare.
Getting off track, in summary, as long as Clarence doesn't break the rules, Dumbledore cannot harm him. At most, he will be wary and prepared.
But is preparedness useful?
Didn't he guard against the young Lord Voldemort back then? But what was the final outcome?
Therefore, Clarence was not worried about this aspect at all. At most, he was worried that this guy might secretly use Legilimency or other magical means to peek into his memories.
...
If it is said that Clarence gained the appreciation and affection of almost all Professors and staff members except Dumbledore, and also became familiar with the Castle environment, he also made many new friends, just like other young Wizards his age.
Even though most of the time he was either holed up in the private library of the Ravenclaw common room, or reading in the public library, or simply practicing simplified skills in his single room.
But he was handsome, and the persona he created also made it easier to gain people's favor. Moreover, he also had Snape and Lily, whom he had met on the train, introduce him to students from their respective houses.
This allowed Clarence to meet many new friends, including those from Slytherin, Gryffindor, and even many Hufflepuff students through his own housemates.
His popularity was surprisingly good. However, although these social activities were very time-consuming, Clarence could also gain a lot of simplification points by teaching these new friends knowledge.
So he was happy to participate in these social activities.
In addition, Clarence also frequently used the system to simplify all the knowledge and magic he could currently obtain in the library.
Especially because of the note Madam Pomfrey had given him earlier, which allowed him to access a large amount of Healing magic materials and related knowledge.
Later, because he requested to study with her for a period, he came into contact with a large number of unknown cases and even practiced on the school's students.
This gave his familiar classmates and Professors a good impression that he might become a Healer after graduation.
As mentioned before, Healers in the Magic World are like doctors, and no matter who they are, they will not easily offend a doctor, especially one with superb medical skills, and they are highly respected.
Although he sometimes said embarrassing things when treating injured students, he was handsome and good-looking!
So even if it was embarrassing, many students were willing to accept his treatment, purely because their values followed their looks.
Therefore, even though they knew that a first-year student like him wouldn't have mastered Healing magic very well, there were still students who would intentionally injure themselves to interact with him, and then be sent to the school infirmary and specifically request him for treatment.
However, this strange phenomenon was soon noticed by the Deans of their respective houses and strictly prohibited.
Clarence's performance and behavior did somewhat lower Dumbledore's wariness and preparedness, but only by a little.
Clarence, however, remained completely oblivious and unaware of this.
Just when he thought this school year would pass so peacefully, he was called back by the Professor after a Dark Arts Defense class.
After the other students left the classroom, the Professor explained the purpose of keeping Clarence.
Firstly, he wanted to invite him to be a teaching assistant for future classes, to help him teach students. Also, because Clarence had learned and even mastered many Healing magic and spells, he could provide timely treatment if any accidental situations occurred during class.
Secondly, out of admiration and affection for excellent students, he wanted to teach him advanced Dark Arts Defense.
He also allowed Clarence to skip first-year classes and attend classes with older students, even specifically providing him with a second-year timetable and some old textbooks.
This was clearly an offer for private tutoring, and Clarence naturally nodded happily in agreement.
He also made an agreement with the Professor to come for private tutoring every Saturday and Sunday.
This was a privilege that only first-year students might have, having two days off each week. By the time they reached second year, there would only be one day off.